Ghana To Enact Fiscal Responsibility Law
The Vice President of the Republic, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, has announced that Government will soon pass a fiscal responsibility law to ensure fiscal discipline in government expenditure and safeguard the public purse.
Vice President Bawumia, who also heads Ghana’s Economic Management Team, said government also intends to implement measures to tackle some of the long-term structural issues to ensure irreversibility of the macro-economic gains made so far.
Speaking at the maiden US-Ghana Business Forum in Accra on Thursday 5th July, 2018, Vice President Bawumia told the audience, which included the Secretary of the United States’ Department of Commerce, H.E Wilbur Ross, some members of the US Government’s Presidential Advisory Council and the CEOs of over 60 American companies:
“I understand that there are concerns in the investor community about fiscal discipline post the conclusion of Ghana’s IMF programme.
“But let me assure you that we are committed to maintaining fiscal discipline for our own sake. As a result, as we have stated before coming into government, we are going to implement structural measures to tackle some of the long-term structural issues.”
Some of the measures, according to Vice President Bawumia, include the passage of a fiscal responsibility law to cap the budget deficit not to exceed 5% for a fiscal year from 2019 along with limits for the debt to GDP ratio.
“As part of the new law, we will establish an independent Fiscal Council to oversee the implementation of fiscal policy,” Vice President Bawumia added.
“As we lay a solid macro-economic foundation for businesses and the private sector to grow, we have not lost sight of key strategic elements that hold the greatest potential to anchor the investments we desire.”
Source: Peacefmonline